When it comes to building your business and your profile no strategy is as powerful or as leveraged as collaborations.
Partnering, aligning or joint venturing with another company or person for their skills, experience or influence can be one of the smartest moves you can make in business.
Don’t believe me? Check out how collaborations could be boosting your bottom line – and not just with referrals.
Being able to brainstorm, discuss business challenges, draw on experience and ask questions of someone who has gone before you or is going along with you can be incredibly valuable.
We all need a sounding board but we don’t always have the ability or resources to do this within our own businesses. Not to mention an independent, outside-looking-in viewpoint can give you the clarity you need to plan and prioritise appropriately.
While you may be an expert in your field or offer a superior product, chances are your product or service is not the only one your customers and potential customers will need.
Combining with other complimentary businesses and specialists can give you the ability to offer a full range of products and services with more specialised skills and benefits giving you a competitive edge when pitching for new business in an increasingly competitive market.
One of the biggest benefits of collaborating is the promotional opportunities that come out of it. From strong referral channels as your product or service becomes part of another business’ offering, to joint advertising and public relations opportunities across each other’s databases and beyond, it can give you the leverage you need to further your reach and generate some serious exposure for your business and personal profile.
Being able to on sell or package up other peoples products and services – without doing extra work can also give you an additional source of income and a wider scope of results. Customers are also more likely to come back or stay with you if you are offering multiple services that they don’t have to look elsewhere for.
Not only can collaborations bring money in, they can also save you money. It could be that you can share the same tools, promotional costs for campaigns, even offices and staff depending on your collaboration.
The opportunities really are endless with the right collaboration partners.
Do you actively collaborate with other businesses? What are some ways you can give and get even more value from the relationship?
Amanda is the founder of Velocity Media and Communications.
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